


Trusty Shovel (for multiple reasons!)

by WTFGayLittleZooid



Series: Kirby - Viva Piñata AU [2]
Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Oneshot, Viva Piñata AU, meta Knight gets his ass beat, taranza is wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29486301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WTFGayLittleZooid/pseuds/WTFGayLittleZooid
Summary: Kirby goes to Taranza for some help, and gets a gift to help with the Island’s common issue.
Series: Kirby - Viva Piñata AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169591
Kudos: 21





	Trusty Shovel (for multiple reasons!)

“...let me guess: Lose another one?” Taranza asked, wincing as Kirby trudge into their shop without their usual happy and bouncy walk. 

“Mn…” Kirby mumbled, standing by the counter and not even looking at the tinkerer. They nodded, and Taranza felt pity. 

“Aw, don’t beat yourself up over it,” Taranza leaned on the counter and began to speak in a soft voice, attempting to console the child. “Losing pinatas happens. Though they never die, they’re just reborn into a newer, healthy body because of the lif-“

“It was Meta Knight,” Kirby mumbled. Taranza’s expression froze as they realized. 

“...ah.” Was all he could say, and quickly began to pace as he tried to think of something. The other four mechanical arms attached to his back quickly perked and clapped against each other as he thought of something. “Well~! We technically don’t know what Meta Knight does with the life candies after he takes them! Maybe he just…” Kirby stared as they practically saw the gears in Taranza’s head turning. “...recycles them into sours?” They shrugged. 

“...you think he eats them?” Kirby asked, looking at the tinkerer, who’s colors practically drained as their face morphed into one of pure cringe. 

“I sincerely hope not! That would be.. wretched,” Taranza nearly gagged at the thought of eating life candy. “Though I doubt h-“

“I saw him eat sour candy once.” 

A mechanical hand slapped over Taranza’s mouth as he gagged, hearing Kirby giggle at the loud retching noise. 

“He picked it up off the ground! If Molly the Mousemallow didn’t get sick then she would’ve eaten it f-“

“STOP- stop please, Kirby I beg of you-“ Taranza tried not to gag again. Kirby bursted into fits of giggles, and Taranza subsided the gagging as a small smile crept under their mask at the child happy again. “Well… good to see you happy again. I must say though, I truly did believe you were being honest.” Taranza chuckled, his arms waving as he spoke and his natural ones leaning on the counter. 

“Oh I wasn’t joking! I saw him do it! It was nasty!” Kirby cringed, and giggled some more as Taranza’s body practically folded as they gagged again. Kirby was known for eating anything, including their own crops. For a small child they had a really big appetite, but even just the smell of sour candy set off enough alarm bells for the new gardener to know it was essentially poison. Especially seeing the effects it had on pinatas. 

“WHY?! Why would he do that!” Taranza started to rant as Kirby watched, entertained. “That shi-“ Taranza paused. “...stuff. isn’t even edible! Everyone knows that! It’s so disgusting!” 

Kirby howled with laughter and giggles as Taranza continued to rant. It was very funny to watch the tinkerer pace around the shop, all six arms waving around exaggeratedly as they shouted over something pretty stupid. It always made Kirby feel better. 

Soon, Taranza seemed to realize the absurdity of his rant over basic sour knowledge, and quickly switched to the professional persona. Clearing his throat and leaning against the counter, Taranza looked at the still giggling Kirby. 

“Anyway, what did you come here for?” Taranza’s natural arms crossed as they spoke.

“Well.. uh…” Kirby started, kicking their legs as they tried to think. “I was talking to uh.. Coo about my sour sherbat problem. And they told me something really cool!” 

“Oh?” Taranza perked up a little, knowing what was gonna be said next but wanting to entertain the kid. “And what did Coo say?”

“That sour sherbats like jack-o-lanterns!” Kirby repeatedly tapped their knuckles against the counter as they got excited. “And- and, jack-o-lanterns come from pumpkins, so I grew a big big pumpkin in my garden all by myself!” 

Taranza clapped with all six arms, grinning widely. Kirby was able to put anybody in a good mood just from being happy. “Congratulations! Pumpkins are a  _ real  _ challenge to grow by yourself,” Taranza folded their arms again after humoring the happy gardener. 

“Thank you!!” Kirby giggled, tapping their knuckles some more. “And- and I wanted to see if you could make it into the perfect jack-o-lantern to make the sour sherbat feel better!” Kirby paused to fumble around in their pocket, quickly grabbing a handful of chocolate coins and dropping them onto the counter. “I even brought chocolate coins!”

Taranza counted the coins, because as much as they enjoyed Kirby, they did have to pay for food for themself and their arocknids. It was a bit too much, so they took the ones they needed and slid the rest back to Kirby. Taranza grinned and stretched, one pair of mechanical arms fixing their hair as they walked to Kirby. 

“Alright! Lead me to the pumpkin,” Taranza instructed, and quickly followed after Kirby who ran off excited to show the village’s best tinkerer his amazing pumpkin. 

~ || • || ~ 

“So… you know how you mostly miss your pinatas getting sick when you’re asleep?” Taranza asked, orange goggles over their eyes as four hands focused on using magic to shift the pumpkin, and the other two pushed away some rather happy syrupents. 

“Yep!” Kirby said, sitting cross legged in the grass, whirlm in lap, watching curiously as Taranza worked. 

“I have something that can help you with that. I don’t really need it since my garden’s so distanced from Meta Knight,” Taranza resisted the temptation to look at the twisted tree looming over Kirby’s garden, which belonged to the infamous reaper. 

“What is it, what is it?!” Kirby was already very excited, perking up. 

“It’s in my bag. Though I’ll grab it once I’m finished with this,” Taranza started, magic continuing to swirl around the pumpkin as he worked. “It’s a shovel part, specifically for the head. It’s designed by the Haltmann family since Meta Knight’s been causing so many... issues. Have you ever tried well uh… hitting Meta Knight with your shovel to get him to go away?” 

“No!” Kirby shouted. “Why would I do that?” 

“...he’s killed six of your pinatas now. In front of you,” Taranza said, beginning the end of the spell. 

“Oh yeah…” Kirby mumbled. 

Taranza rolled their eyes. “Well, if you did, you would know that it wouldn’t work. He either walks around it, uses his cape to vanish, or even just.. walks through you. It’s creepy, the shovel doesn’t even make contact with him!” Taranza shivered. Being phased through was not a pleasant experience. 

“Oh wow…” Kirby mumbled, amazed Meta Knight could do all those things. He would be such a cool friend if he wasn’t so mean. 

“...so the Haltmann’s found a way to fix that issue, and created a shovelhead that can actually touch him! And actually harm any other demon beasts from Nightmare, since they’re just. Really annoying,” Taranza chuckled. 

...thinking about it, he never noticed just how different the demon beasts were from Meta Knight, who he assumed was also one since he seemed to work for Nightmare. Meta Knight was human, while the demon beasts were only humanoid. The demon beasts would only cause small inconveniences, such as spitting sour candy and destroying property, but Meta Knight was the only one who actually killed pinatas. 

“It looks amazing!” Kirby shouted, snapping Taranza out of their thoughts as they picked up the now jack-o-lantern and stared into it, amazed. 

Taranza chuckled, getting up and dusting themself off and fixing his hair some more. “Well, I’m glad you like it. Anyway, just as I promised:” Taranza said, grabbing their bag and quickly pulling out a slightly rusty shovel head. They handed it to Kirby, who inspected it. Kirby thought it looked funny. “Just give Meta Knight a good hit with that and he should be dazed long enough for Susie to get here,” Taranza explained as he put his bag back on and prepared to leave. 

“It was fun seeing you Kirby, I look forward to more business with you,” Taranza waved, and began to leave the garden. 

“Bye!!!!” Kirby excitedly waved, a little sad to see their friend go, but once they left, Kirby took out their shovel and popped the head on. It felt… strange knowing that if it came to it, he’d have to attack another person. 

...then again, they  _ were  _ going to be hurting his pinatas and he didn’t want that! Kirby stroked the whirlm in his lap, a little sad at the thought of losing it like the first one. 

…he wasn’t going to let that happen. 

~ || • || ~ 

Kirby didn’t hesitate to grab his Alert Box this time once he heard the notifications.

_ “Your piñata is sick!”  _

Kirby quickly dashed out the door, making sure to grab the shovel with the new head on his way out. Meta Knight was already slowly making their way to the sick syrupent. 

“Stop!” Kirby shouted, quickly opening the notification and sending a picture of the sick syrupent to Susie so she knew who to help. Almost immediately there was a notification stating she was on her way. Kirby rushed to his piñata, holding the shovel with a tight grip. 

Meta Knight didn’t say anything. They eyed the shovel, but didn’t seem to care, and continued walking. 

It still felt… weird to know he was going to use his trusty shovel to hurt someone, but… he didn’t want to lose this syrupent. Not after it visits him and begs for affection every time he returns. He wouldn’t let it die. 

“I’m! I’m, uh- I’m warning you!” Kirby shouted. Meta Knight didn’t react, and Kirby yawned,  _ really  _ tired, but still ready with the shovel. 

Meta Knight bit back a pity laugh at the kid wielding the shovel like it could actually hurt him. Sure, Meta Knight couldn’t see well since one eye went blind due to… something he couldn’t remember all too well, honestly. But he knew it was the new gardener, Kirby, wielding it so that made it even more pitiful. But Meta Knight couldn’t allow himself to get distracted. 

Put the piñata out of its misery, get the life candy, and go. 

And that’s exactly what he focused on. 

Kirby gripped the shovel tighter as Meta Knight approached. 

“...please just- don’t come closer!” Kirby gave one last warning, since Meta Knight was only a yard away from the syrupent now. They didn’t respond, and Kirby nearly froze once Meta Knight’s cape twisted into wings and he revealed the sword. 

_ Nearly.  _

_ WHACK  _

Kirby struck with just as much force as they could muster, almost certain they snapped the shovel in half with the force. Kirby jumped back as Meta Knight stumbled, falling to the floor, wings dragging on the grass. The kid stared wide eyed, dropping the shovel once they realized.

They broke Meta Knight’s mask. 

Kirby heard Meta Knight struggling to suppress his noises of pain, their hand holding their head. Kirby thought about taking a step closer, tempted to see if he was okay, but jumped back when their head snapped towards them. Kirby’s mouth dropped in surprise at his face. 

They looked… mostly human. A young human at that, like they had just become an adult. Though the reason Kirby thought mostly, was because of the asymmetrical eyes. The left eye’s sclera was pitch black, lacking an iris while their pupil had a glowing white color. Their right eye was similar, with a pitch black sclera, but no pupil, and glowing white iris. But it didn’t stop there, since the most noticeable part was a familiar pattern starting from their eyes and running down their face similar to tears: the markings of a sour piñata. On  _ skin.  _

But humans couldn’t get those markings. It was impossible, unless it was done by tattoos, and even then it was still obviously unnatural. But these weren’t. 

Meta Knight grabbed his sword, fury burning in his eyes, before they both got distracted by something. 

It was the loud honking of Susie’s vehicle. Kirby beamed, forgetting about Meta Knight momentarily. The reaper was instant with twisting their wings into a cape and disappearing like always before being noticed by the doctor.

Kirby quickly ran up to Susie’s vehicle, leading her to the miserable syrupent, trying not to think too much about Meta Knight. 


End file.
